googiemomma

the girls room: double bunk beds

2012-02-01T08:18:00.000-05:00

i tried to remember to take tons of photos of the entire process--some details of the construction, some just for fun, some oops!
so now i can share some more details about individual parts of our project.

jeremy drew the plans for the bed himself. he based it off the photos of the double bunks at augustfields, and on the original photo she used for inspiration for her bunk room.

we were more limited in space than it seems either of those rooms were. we used literally every inch from window to window on the back wall.

both end walls were framed out and sheetrocked.

and the rest of the bed was made from a combination of studs and MDF, cut to size in our backyard and brought through the window :)

(he may kill me for this picture…hehehe)

the drawers were something we (and by we i mean he) debated for a while. it seemed like a waste not to utilize that space, but it was also more time, effort and money to make drawers.

in the end it was only about $30 worth of supplies and a couple hours to make the drawers on castors. and even if they’re just used to store off season clothing in the long run—it’s still better to have the storage space.

he left only the tiniest gap between the bottom trim and the floor—hopefully to stop tiny bits and pieces from getting lost underneath ;)

everything got at least two coats of primer and two coats of paint. the cut ends of the MDF got even more…boy can that stuff suck up paint.

the back walls of the bed, end walls and ceiling were all painted white. we wanted it to look like a huge built-in piece—one unit all to itself.

we did initially paint the back walls the same blue as the other walls. but it didn’t feel right at all, so we changed it to the white.

(it actually doesn't look bad in this picture. but trust me...it wasn't right)

the final piece was the railings for the top bunks. a lot of the custom bunk bed photos we looked at online didn’t have railings on the top bunks! we couldn’t understand why—until we got to that point in our project.

jeremy was all “gobbeldy wobbledy construction speak no skinny wood that doesn’t warp don’t know what to use blah blah blah all the one-bys were twisted like noodles blah”
at least, that’s what i heard.

our solution: two thick wooden dowels, spray painted white and attached with closet rod hangers.

the space isn’t as big as it looks in this picture for some reason. the baby is not allowed to be taken up on the top bunks, and that provides enough of a barrier for all the bigger kids.

jeremy’s initial cost estimate for the beds was $500. and in the end we came in right around there. that includes all the wood/MDF, sheetrock, spackle, trim, paint and even the lights. not bad for 4 beds.

sometimes when you’re in the midst of spending money left and right during a major project you can lose sight of reality and what’s what. so it helped that in our mail one day was an advertisement for a “cheap” furniture store…boasting of their white metal daybeds for “only” $199.

4 of them would have cost us significantly more than what we built, would have taken up a LOT more room, and in my opinion—wouldn’t have been nearly as ~~awesome~~ nice (hehe ana)

thanks for reading!

pride and prejudice

2012-01-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a mother in possession of a single son and four daughters must be in want of things to sew for the boy.

truly—this is not because of any lack of love for The Boy, or some lesser status of The Boy.

but let’s face it—girls’ stuff is, well, cuter. and—here’s the biggie (at least for me)—way, waaayyy easier.

i can whip out 20 dresses in the time it takes me to make one suit. but i try, i do. and when i made the girls’ four houndstooth dresses i coordinated my boy too.

one navy and white houndstooth bowtie.

for one crazy, crazy boy.

and as i mentioned in that post, when it was photo taking time he “couldn’t find” his bowtie. or suit. or sweater.

mmmhmm.

found it now, didn’t we? took pictures later, didn’t we? turned into yoda, didn’t we?

but it’s all good. i’ll just exercise my matchless photoshop skillllzzzzz…

(cracks knuckles)

whaddaya mean it don’t look natural???

harrison in a bowtie photobomb. coming soon to an internet meme near you.

so there you have it—pride in my son, and his handsome houndstooth bowtie, and no prejudice against sewing for him.

so…does that make me lizzy? or mr. darcy?

apple pie

2012-01-30T01:32:00.000-05:00

did you see the parade magazine back in november? specifically the one with the apple pie on the cover? the one covered in piecrust leaves?

Source: dashrecipes.com via Shannon on Pinterest

so, so pretty.

and if you follow their link, it will tell you that if you’d like to make your own version of this pie, well TOO BAD.
okay, it doesn’t really say that. but it does say they used “custom stencils” and that “all lines in the leaves were hand detailed with a knife.”

boo.

they do offer links to places you can get some similar cookie cutters, but i made my own version of the pie.

okay, so maybe it’s not cover-worthy. but it was a fun little project ava and i did together.

for an HOUR.

not making the pie, or the crust. just making leaves. for an HOUR.

it’s a pretty dramatic looking pie, too. so that helps take the focus off what it actually tastes like (you know...in case you're at all nervous about your pie-making abilities. not that i am. cough, cough)

if you want to try your hand at a leaf-covered apple pie, we used this:

wilton rose leaf fondant cut & press set. it was $6.99 at jo-ann’s, and i used a 40% coupon.

and this:

the pampered chef creative cutters set—specifically the maple leaf cutter. this was a gift from my sister-in-law, but it retails for $11.00 on their website.

the combo of a maple leaf and rose leaves worked surprisingly well.

of course, my pie can’t hold a candle to the pies ava and gigi did on their own with the leftovers:

i’ll be honest here—i’m not a huge apple pie fan. i prefer berry pies. and mixed fruit pies.
and chocolate. i always prefer chocolate.

so what do you think? what’s your favorite type of pie? and would you spend an hour cutting crust leaves to top a pie?

or would you scrap it all for a nice bowl of chocolate ice cream? :) let me know in the comments.

(oh, and in case you're wondering--my pie was quite yummy.)

pssst--hey, what do you think of my new header? i know, i know...i've been changing things up. a bit often. (cough, cough) but this one might stick. for a bit. hey--i even committed to new buttons. and in the bloggy world, that's practically like we're married.

friday randoms

2012-01-28T01:09:00.000-05:00

o1) we took the kids to see the muppet movie.

via

it was cute, the kids liked it.

but you know what i couldn’t help thinking through the entire movie?

what i wouldn’t give…

via

to have miss piggy’s

via

entire wardrobe.

via

seriously?!?!?! did you see THESE SHOES????

via

even the hair!

sleek and smooth one minute…

via

flowy and wavy and layered the next…

via

and don’t even get me started on the HAT. WITH. A. BIRDCAGE.
for realsies.

the pig even had a spread in instyle magazine wearing outfits custom designed for her:

via

AND she was featured on project runway all-stars.

that’s it. NEW GOAL FOR GOOGIEMOMMA 2012:

embrace miss piggy as a fashion icon.

(i’m fairly certain we have the same body type)

okay, that was a long #1. onwards…

o2) i REALLY REALLY REALLY want to do this:

via

except with a pair of heels. (some youtube tutes here and here)

okay, i have to do it RIGHT NOW.

o3) our girls’ room project was featured at the DIY showoff and at Miss Priss’ pinterest partayyy last week. woot woot!

thanks so much gals!

o4) last week we were out doing the food shopping and elliot peed through her diaper onto her outfit. of course i had no other clean outfit with me, we were 1/2 hour from home, and had at least 2 more stops to make. i told jeremy to drop me at the marshall’s and i’d run in and just grab a cheap outfit for her real quick.

i came out 15 minutes later with a outfit…and another outfit, and 2 pairs of shoes, and a pair of boots, and a pair of jeans for girlfriend girl, and a throw pillow.

three bags.

it was really hard to hide that throw pillow behind my back.

true story.

o5) enjoy your weekend! i’ll be airing out my house today—i don’t care if it is january—these windows need to be opened and the wind needs to blow this stomach virus OUT OF HERE.

googiemomma out!

the girls' room: the dressers

2012-01-26T08:13:00.000-05:00

i tried to remember to take tons of photos of the entire process--some details of the construction, some just for fun, some oops! so now i can share more details about some of the parts of the room.

because we had a very specific sized space to fill with dressers, and a very specific budget to stick to, it was a bit challenging.

adding to the challenge was this:

so unless we found a way to get over top the baseboard the dresser would have a few inch gap between it and the wall. not cool in a house of little kids--who will use any tiny space to shove things.

jeremy built this frame to lift the dressers a couple of inches, allowing them to go all the way to the wall. (we also wouldn’t have been able to fit these 3 dressers without using all the space from wall to wall)

all the dressers are screwed to one another, into the bottom frame, and into the studs of the wall next to it. they could open all the drawers and stand in them and the thing wouldn’t move an inch. (their parents might kill them, though)

we do lose the bottom left hand drawer because of the heater cover, but raising the dressers up any higher just didn’t seem practical.

we initially weren’t thrilled with the idea of using “malm” dressers. the contemporary handle-less look of them didn’t jive with the plan for the room.

but then we tried out the idea of adding handles…and boom!

it changed the whole look of the dresser. for $1 each they make a world of difference.

i gave the two bigger girls three drawers, and the two little girls got two drawers. and then one drawer is hair things and jewelry.
they also have a metal drawer unit in the closet for stockings and underthings, and lots of hanging space. so this is mainly for jammies, pants, and t-shirts.

i really, really love the look this dresser has--way more than i expected to. it's so clean looking, but has a big impact!
thanks for reading!

i’m just a singer in a rock ‘n roll band

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

today is the first day in five days that i’ve put on real clothes.
real clothes being: a t-shirt, jeans, slippers and bra.

we here at the googiehaus are at the tail end of Puke Fest ‘12-- an event of such unsurpassed enormity that it will for all time go down in the annals of history.
all five of my children succumbed to the siren song of the stomach flu, providing virtually no end to the fun times (and cleaning) of the last five days.

if you are of a delicate constitution i suggest you just close your browser down right now. better yet, click over to some cute kitty pictures or rainbowsandpuppies.com (which i just made up so i don’t know if it exists but probably it does but don’t blame me if you actually go there and it doesn’t contain either rainbows OR puppies ifyaknowwhatimsayin).
come back tomorrow when things are back to the normal crafty/sewing thing and not quite so…body-fluidy.

little man came down with it first: friday night at bedtime punctuated by his whines of “my bellllllly hurts.” we were a touch surprised—seeing as how his typical m.o. is sunday night belly pains—you know--the infamous Sunday Night Sickness.
but the second time he came out his lips were noticeably grayer, and he was sent back to bed with The Bucket.
when the puking began i went into cleaning overdrive. i donned disposable latex gloves and followed The Boy to the bathroom—alternating soothing whispers and back rubs with spritzes of lysol.

we have FIVE children. i knew the havoc one stomach flu could reek, and i was determined to outwit it. i even dug out chux pads we were sent home with from the hospital after five’s birth. i layered them—over his pillow, the bathroom floor. thank you, nurses.

by sunday morning i optimistically thought i had won the battle. there had been no episodes since saturday morning, and if the boy wasn’t exactly 100%, he was undeniably better.

naivety, thy name is shannon.

the two older girls started within minutes of each other on sunday night. i sat across from guinevere at the table and literally watched her lips lose their color.
three kids sick with stomach bugs triggered something in my brain. a protective cleaning mechanism that made me start scrubbing and sanitizing. the “sanitize” setting on our washing machine has never been used so much.
so when ava only made it as far as the dining room before losing her cookies (and no, it wasn’t cookies—it was beef stew and how’s THAT for a mental image?) i couldn’t even hear the googiedaddy yelling for me over the sound of my vacuuming.
it was one of those times where you stand there and think i truly, truly don’t even know where to begin. i grabbed some rags and waded in, repeating my mantra over and over: this isn’t puke, someone spilled soup. this isn’t puke, someone spilled soup.

by monday morning it was a very, very quiet house. blobs of children draped lifelessly on the towel and sheet-covered sofa. i hoped for the best—maybe this was it. maybe the two little girls would be spared.

maybe the bucket of bleach water i had at the ready was actually helping.

maybe i’m a dreamer.

when gigi finally got sick i wasn’t surprised. what did surprise me was that my overdramatic three year old, who screams for virtually every bump and scrap she gets, was totally an awesome puker. sat in front of the tv with her bowl, perfect aim every time, not a tear.

there’s a silver lining for ya.

and when elliot started turning the most interesting shade of green on monday night all we could do was sigh and pull out some more towels.

i’ll hand it to him: jeremy tried hard to take the brunt of elliot’s sickness. he cradled her most of monday night while she squirmed and burped and gagged. but i told him early on—she’s saving it for me. fact.

when it finally came it was just as i suspected it would be: she was laying on top of me in bed. the towel we had so carefully kept at the ready nowhere to be found. she simply lifted her head, looked me in the eyes, and released.

there’s no way of sparing you the gory details. i will tell you this: it splashed. i had to shower. when i did, it was everywhere from between and under my boobs to the back of my neck, my hair and my back. i had to strip my entire bed—pillows and all.
i wasn’t covered in puke—i was AWASH IN VOMITUS.

which, it occurred to me as i scrubbed my hair during my impromptu midnight shower, would be an awesome name for a rock band.

probably a grunge band (giggle giggle snort).

so i think we’re done. googiedaddy and i have been queasy and shaky since the start of it all. but how much of that is due to us getting sick vs. just the fact that we’re cleaning up OTHER PEOPLE’S PUKE ten times a day is hard to differentiate.

this afternoon i brushed my teeth, flattened my hair, and dressed myself. i’m hopeful that these clothes will remain untarnished—and not be more in a long line of disgusting jammies i peel off myself and toss right into the washer without thinking about exactly why the hems of my pants are so wet.

in the meantime, while i’m in this state of wary watchful optimism, i’ll get to work on my first CD.
working title: Scrubbing the Porcelain Throne.

the houndstooth of the baskervilles

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

via: http://blog.drjerm.com/2009/01/

scientists are not really sure why zebras have stripes.

one theory holds that “as the zebras move and run in herds, the stripes may help to confuse predators, since a number of zebras moving and standing close together can appear as one large animal, making it very difficult for the lion to pick out a single zebra to attack.”
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_zebras_have_stripes#ixzz1jelTdoIS

it’s not a bad theory. in fact, it’s one i’ve decided to put to the test:

can you pick out the weakest member of the herd?

i think it may work. how many kids do you have? not sure. how many do you see?

all things considered, it’s really not a bad picture. considering we were rushing to get out of the house (should have left FIVE MINUTES AGO says googiedaddy, standing just out of range on the right there). considering that trying to pose gigi is akin to asking a zebra to change it’s stripes. considering that when i told harrison to get his matching bowtie and suit on he mysteriously “couldn’t find it”. uh-huh. sure.

i was excited to make matching outfits from navy houndstooth specifically because it’s a fabric ideal for matching both boys and girls. and it would help alleviate my momma guilt over constantly sewing for the girls and not my little man.

so, just know this future adult harrison: i DID make things for you. and then you lost them.

but there it is--four girls, four houndstooth dresses, three coordinating fascinators and one coordinating headband. one missing boy with a missing matching bowtie (which was super cute).

also:

two velvet capes for the middles.

i bought all the navy houndstooth they had at jo-ann’s during the black friday weekend sale. almost eight yards at $1.99/yard. with ribbon and zippers and buttons and the blue velvet and the feathers and birdcage netting i bought on etsy here i spent about $40, give or take, to dress my five.

not bad.

there was a method to my madness:
the little ms. elliot got a circle skirt, short sleeves and a drapey type neckline.

gigi got a circle skirt, short sleeves and a collar (and a crooked cape). and would NOT stand still for me to take a picture of her alone. stinker.

ava got a circle skirt, short sleeves and a boat neck.

the houndstooth on a circle skirt drapes with such a neat effect. i also cut her sleeves on the bias.

that was a biiiiiggggg circle. perfect for twirling :)

i love boat necks. such a pretty frame for the face.

guinevere got a boat neck, 3/4 length cuffed sleeves, and a straight skirt—befitting her more mature fashion sensibilities.

the back got darts after the fact to cinch it in a touch more, and then a big exposed zipper.

i’m having fun sewing for her as she gets older. her rapidly changing little figure is like a learning tool for me—how to fit the female form.

is it wrong to be jealous of your daughters’ dresses?

even though you made them?

the fascinators were so much fun.

big fluffy feathers (all of them came on one stick from the floral department at jo-ann’s. much cheaper than buying individual things!)

fabric flowers with rhinestone centers

and birdcage netting. LOVE.

can we bring that back for women? pretty please? because i soooo want to wear hats with veils.and maybe long gloves with big swingy coats. just to go to the grocery store. you know—without having people look at me like i’m crazy.

the capes i made from a gorgeous soft navy blue velvet. i used the girls’ sewing machine to add some silver embroidery around the neck and bottom.

i planned on making at least one more for guinevere…but this momma ran out of steam. (apparently i’m a steam punk momma)

velvet=sewing nightmare. the nap pulls it in random opposite directions while you’re sewing so nothing lines up by the time you get to the end. it’s like trying to sew two live cats together.

the capes have a coordinating lining…

that pulls in the lime green of the ribbon around their waist.

these dresses have a decidedly french flair that i love. and so do they.

slick your hair and wear your buckle shoes

2012-01-23T08:00:00.026-05:00

and

allllll

that

JAZZZZZZ

okay, i’m going to attempt to get through this without any jazz hands references. no promises.

my second entry for project run and play’s SEWING THROUGH THE DECADES challenge from last week was a 20s flapper inspired look.

i started with this:

a (thrifted) size 3x all-in-one shirt/cardigan combo. it’s black shot through with silver threads and provided PLENTY of fabric for my skinny mini girl. ;)

i trimmed it all up, cut a deep v-neck and hemmed it. easy.

then i filled in the neck with white cotton in an overlapping pattern and cut serpentine ruffles from the excess black fabric.

the beads i dug out of my “beads & stuff drawer” (don’t you have one?) the fringe and layers on the bottoms of the dresses of the jazz age were to draw attention to the movement of their dancing. and i’m pretty sure it works!

the beaded lacey shawl also came from my “beads & stuff drawer”. the pearl necklace was from miss ava’s great grandmother—not real, but vintage none the less!

okay, can we talk about the cloche for a minute?

i’ve dabbled in hat-making before…and i don’t claim to be a milliner.
but seriously—new FAVORITE PROJECT EVAH.
and because i’m The Most Impatient Crafter Ever—i loved that it was SO easy! i watched some tutorials (here and here), gathered my supplies and went for it.

the supplies are minimal: you need a $3.99 wig form from sally’s beauty supply (covered in plastic wrap for non-stick factor). you make a 50/50 mixture of elmer’s glue and water and saturate your felt. i did a trial run with one of those 29 cent pieces of felt, and then used some yardage of wool felt i had for the final product.

you just s t r e t c h your felt over the form, pulling and pulling and pinning and pinning and pulling until it takes on the shape of the head. then i started forming the brim, trimming it up and YES it’s creepy but i stabbed my form through the head with a skewer to hold the brim in place while it dried.

once it’s all where you want it let it dry overnight and boom! hat!
i made a band out of some more felt and added the buttons and feather piece (all stuff i had—let’s hear it for cheap projects! can i get a what what!?!?)

i may turn into a mad hatter. seriously.
once we got all the pieces together i couldn’t believe how much i loved the look.

and for real--current favorite picture of ms. ava:

i even attempted some finger waves…which looked super cool but you couldn’t really see them under the hat.
you CAN see the spit curls on the side—an absolute MUST for any good jazzy girl. ava was not overly thrilled with them…considering that of all the things i used to hold them in place (gel, hairspray, wax)…it was the actual spit that worked the best.

huh. whoda thunk it?
and that’s it. add the appropriate tuneage:

and start taking pictures!

and that’s a wrap! JAZZZZZ HANDS!!!!
(okay, couldn’t do it)

linking up here:

frankly my dear…or is that too obvious of a title?

2012-01-20T01:22:00.003-05:00

i have a sewing bucket list.

skills i’d like to learn/master/just become more proficient at. dresses i’d like to recreate, or some i’ve dreamed up i’d like to bring to fruition…

i got a big one done back when i did so you think you’re crafty—the my fair lady ascot races dress.

boy do i love that dress.

and this week i got to cross another one off my list:
~~reproduce scarlett o’hara’s green floral twelve oaks barbeque dress~~

but hey, what’s a scarlett without her rhett?

meet tiny scarlett and tiny rhett.
in MY version of gone with the wind, scarlett realizes what a wienie ashley is and immediately marries rhett.

and how could you not? i mean, seriously. have you seen this guy?

i thought clark gable was good. this little man puts him to shame. me-OW.

and i’m not the only one who thinks so…

these two little hams yucked it up in the lobby of a local hotel…making for scads of adorableness…and not many good shots showing the actual DRESS i made ;)

but how stinkin’ cute are they???

anyway, this dress was one of my reader submissions for this week’s challenge at project run and play, sewing through the decades

if there’s anything that will catch you a googiemomma hook, line and sinker—it’s a retro sewing challenge.

the biggest challenge: the fabric itself has that distinctive variegated green floral pattern.

via

if you do some research (which i did) you’ll find out some crazy things:

the fabric of the original dress was hand printed. they made only enough to make the one original dress, and that was it.
until, that is, a company researched it extensively and began producing and selling reproduction fabric in the 1990s (the bolt of fabric costs OVER $600 and you need the entire bolt to make the dress!)
you can buy some insanely incredible repro dresses. they take a minimum of 18 yards of fabric, and can go up to 23+ yards.
the ribbon woven through her ruffled top? one reproduction maker said she sews in excess of 1100 individual buttonholes to weave the velvet ribbon through.
some people are seriously, seriously INSANE.

i’m crazy, but i’m not THAT kind of cray-cray. i’m crazy + cheap. soooo, my dress was made from an old white sheer curtain layered over a white flat sheet.

the skirt is a basic circle skirt with a few extra panels sewn in for good measure.

for the bodice i traced out a shirt, then adjusted the neckline and shoulder to make it similar to scarlet’s (without being quite so low-cut).

the floral design, however…

i headed up to michaels, 40% off coupons in hand, and bought myself a little selection of…well, whatever i thought might help me make a floral pattern on my fabric.

and then i apparently set up the dress like a dartboard, closed my eyes and THREW ALL OF IT ON TOP.

first i used the spray fabric die in olive green over a stencil. um, yeah—that stuff STINKS. after about 2 sprays it got clogged and “shot” more than it “sprayed”.
so then i mixed green and black fabric paint and painted some leaves on. then i used a floral-ish stamp to stamp all over. i may have been a little panicky at that point.

THEN, i rinsed it all off.

let’s be honest here: when it looked like it did in that picture up top, i was fairly certain i had a big huge craft FAIL on my hands.

but once i rinsed it out and ran it through the washer once for good measure…well, if it’s not exactly scarlett—it’s close enough for me (close enough that i wasn’t even ONCE tempted to spend $600 on repro fabric)

it’s really hard to photograph, but it’s actually a really pretty design i ended up with.
on purpose.

toooottttallly on purpose.

and yeah, that ribbon? i cut holes with my scissors and wove the ribbon through. i’d rather poke myself in the eye with a hot poker than try doing the probably 100 buttonholes it would have taken.

true story.

i’m not all about the cheater method, though: the green velvet waistband is lined and boned, however.
and by “boned”, i mean “filled with cardboard and scrap wood i found lying around”.

it’s all about the historical accuracy folks.

whatev. in the end i had what i wanted: one (vaguely) scarlett o’hara dress, with which to do one adorable photo shoot.

(he was totally in the middle of telling her she looked like a princess right here. and then i died. i’m starting to think arranged marriages aren’t such a bad idea.)

and then they got what they wanted--in the form of junk food.
rhett did have to shave first.

pssstttt…did you catch where i said this was ONE of the dresses i did for project run & play? yup, i couldn’t decide which decade. and in typical googiemomma fashion, i did two. hey—for a while i thought i could do three. so two's reasonable, right? right? anyway…come back monday for the other one!

tutorial: how to paint stripes on your wall or ceiling

2012-01-19T08:00:00.003-05:00

i love striped walls. i love stripes in general, really. we’ve done stripes in our bathroom, the girls pink princess room, and a few other places in the past.

and when i saw the ceiling on my inspiration room with wide reddish/salmon-y and white stripes i knew i had to do it.

it can be daunting to do stripes, but we have a pretty simple system down-pat at this point.

you need two people, two tape measures, two pencils, a couple of rolls of frog tape or painters tape, and at least one ladder (if you’re doing walls, two for a ceiling. assuming one of you isn’t very, very tall. then you may not need any ladders.)

so there you have it. how to paint stripes, the easy (ha!) way.

pinwheel dress tutorial

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

here is the pinwheel dress tutorial i did for jessica’s “reSEWlution” series at me sew crazy!

******************************

okay, let’s get to it: honesty time.

(slowly stands up)
::cough, cough::
hi. my name is shannon. and i’m a sewing procrastinator. i have multiple half-started and unfinished projects.

come on, who’s with me here? there’s no shame in telling the truth.

who hasn’t seen a fabric, immediately fallen in love, and quickly purchased 2 yards swearing you’re going to turn it into the perfect skirt/top/dress? and then it sat, first in the bag, then in the closet…slowly getting pushed further to the back of the pile…until you’ve all but forgotten about it…
or maybe you’re a pinner? you pin the most ADORBS little outfit, run right out and buy all the supplies to make it…and months later find that nice little pile of fabric, zipper and buttons dusty and neglected in the corner of your stash?

well, NO MORE. today i finish a project left undone--a dress inspired by the very gal who’s blog i’m visiting today!
when jessica posted her hot air balloon dress back in the summer i loved it, i pinned it, i bought fabric for it. not only was i going to make it—i had visions of all four of my girls in coordinating balloon dresses.

Source: mesewcrazy.com via Shannon on Pinterest

but wait, it gets better. shortly after this i saw this pinwheel bib done over at lemontree creations.

Source: lemontreecreations.blogspot.com via Shannon on Pinterest

also TOO CUTE! and the wheels started turning…
what about a cute little summer dress like the hot air balloon dress, but with PINWHEELS instead???
ohhh…it’s gonna be sooo cute.

except…
i never made it.

but, in light of my new resolve, i proudly present…

of course, initially this was going to be a summer dress. but i had to switch gears a bit and make it a bit more wintery. my plan was a white dress with brown ribbon wands on the pinwheels. so i simply flipflopped the colors--brown dress, white ribbon.

one of my favorite things about sewing for my girls is making clothes that aren't the typical "girl colors"--not pink or red. a brown dress with orange and blue and yellow accents? perfect!

so i gave it a boat neck, fitted bodice and 3/4 length cuffed sleeves (one of my favorite looks)

and you gotta love a big fluffy skirt covered with 3-D pinwheels!

here’s how i did it:

you can use whatever dress pattern you’d like. i used an existing dress to get the basic size and shape, and then adjusted the neckline, waist height, and sleeves.

i made my dress complete first:

and then turned my attention to the pinwheels.

now to attach them to the dress.

final steps:
stitch ribbon down as the pinwheel wands, and sew (or glue) buttons to the centers.

that’s right—sometimes (okay, most times) i glue non-functioning buttons on things i make. hot glue holds up really well—even through the washer and dryer (i wouldn’t do this for baby clothes though—just older kids who don’t put little things in their mouths!)

and that’s it! enjoy your pinwheel dress—perfect for spinning and twirling

five at seven(ish)

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

she has eyes like the sea before a storm…but i’m not sure how good she is at tracking falcons.

maybe i should just call this “five at seven/eight”.

but, then, that kinda looks like 7/8ths, and what’s that? so we’ll pretend i actually posted this like 3 weeks ago, and i’ll try to do five at eight sometime before she’s nine months, and well, we’ll all just move on and get a grip because it’s just a blog post, right? right. (the move on and get a grip part is mainly to me, btw)

she is perpetually dirty faced.

because this kid can pack away the foodz, like for realsies—and no baby food, either. she wants NO PARTS OF ANY BABY MUSH NO NO NO. she wants pizza crust and mashed potatoes and whatever you’re eating. but she does not want her face wiped. ever ever. and no matter how much you swear up, down and sideways that you’ll never be that mom…sometimes you just are that mom.

she is so chubby.

how chubby?

her babylegs (like little baby leg warmers) don’t even fit. they sink into her roly-poly thighs and then rollllllll down to her knees.

it.is.adorable.

she is crawling.

well, not so much crawling as doing this weird zombie-drag-inchworm-breakdance kind of maneuver. it’s quite hysterical.

but it’s efficient.

it allows her to get into trouble with things like wires. and paint cans. (see above photographic evidence)

she would like to add a footnote.

*mother, when i am 16 i will hate you for putting my chubby baby thighs on the internet. and my messy, food covered face—no matter how cute you think it is. that is all.

girls’ room: part IV “the reveal”

2012-01-16T12:10:00.002-05:00

click HERE to read the initial plans
click HERE to see my “inspiration photos”
click HERE to read part I of the construction tale
click HERE to read part II of the construction tale
click HERE to read part III of the construction tale

it took until wednesday night before the room was in a state that the girls could sleep in it. and we wanted them to be able to sleep in it before we showed it to them.

confession: after we finished everything we could for the night, and it was mopped and vacuumed and done and waiting to be seen…jeremy and i, well, we just flopped down on the floor and sat there. for about 20 minutes.

just sat.

we took in what we did, the changes. we played with the baby on the floor. we sat.
…
and then we called the girls in.

okay, i won’t drag this out any longer. you’ve been waiting so patiently (ahem, MOST of you, that is)
come on in…

the ‘g’ is because we reused the door from guinevere’s room. maybe i should just add “irls”? the opening above the door is still a work in progress. for now we can listen to their secrets at night…hehehe

each bed has a little curtain that can close it off. this way the girls can still have their own “space” even in a shared room.
literally minutes after they saw the room for the first time it looked like this:

they each have a little light and shelf for books, and an outlet next to the shelf. the rule is when mom and dad say “lights out” you obey or you lose your lightbulb for a week. ;) so far, it’s worked.

the mix-matched patterns on all the pillows and curtains are what took us FOR.EH.VER at jo-ann’s. and even when i was sewing them up i was nervous.

but in the end i think it all came together (even that floral fabric, which first got tea stained, then bleached)

i did a silhouette pillow on each of their beds too

the top bunks are so much fun…

but i really think the bottom bunks are cozier :)

and these beds conceal a secret:

a simple drawer on castors underneath each bottom bunk. perfect for, you know…all the things you might find in a little girls’ room…

where do you put clothing for four girls in one room? in a giant dresser:

this is three malm dressers from IKEA ($89 each), plus 24 black knobs from the home depot ($1 each). jeremy built a platform for them to sit up on and ran a piece of trim across the front. (there was a reason for that)

more details coming later…but for about $320? srsly.

do you know how hard it was to take some of these pics without getting me and my cray-cray hair in the shot?
eh…who am i hiding from?

moving on…

the prints i found on a blog, to be a lady.

not all of them are exactly right for a little girls’ room, but i picked a few i liked and printed them out and framed them.

i figure i can change them out as needs change (ladies do not get in fistfights with their sisters over “borrowed” clothing)

all the things on the dresser we already had…

as well as the desk, which was one we bought and refinished for guinevere’s room.

that blank canvas? yeah…that’s where the girls’ picture will be. eventually. i hoped to have it done by the time i posted this (actually, that’s why this post is late).

eventually.

i also need to rework that lamp to match, reupholster the chair instead of just laying the fabric on top…and probably paint the desk white. it’s antiqued right now…which isn’t horrible, but next to the dressers…you know, eventually.

our other clothing storage—a wall to wall closet space

which still needs it’s last curtain made and put up. somehow we totally bombed on the measurements here—both track and fabric.

four girls worth of dresses and shirts and skirts and shoes and purses…

(and ooh! looky there! projects i still haven't blogged about…)

empty frames which i still need to fill…

all together now… ”eventually” hehe

which brings me to the ups and downs of the room—the ups:

i thought at one point i had broken my gallbladder or something because i was in such pain on my upper left side.

then i realized it was sore muscles from painting stripes on a ceiling for two days.
duh.

i don’t even care. it was totally worth it.
the downs of the room?

this guy:

i searched for an area rug. i don’t want white. i don’t want to pay a fortune. in the end i rolled out the rug that was in guinevere’s old room “temporarily” (my other word—besides “eventually”)

the style goes, but the colors are cream and chocolate brown. so it doesn’t really match.
but i think i kind of don’t hate it. (or is that my cheap side talking? or maybe my tired of shopping and spending money side?)

ah well, i’ll probably just keep half-heartedly looking until i find something i love.
and finally, this:

i have a love affair with miniatures. doll houses, realistic ones—not plastic ones—are a childhood obsession i’ve never gotten over. i’ve always always wanted to do one to completion. and my mom found this guy, along with BINS and BINS of supplies out by someone’s trash. it looks like they got as far as putting it together and painting it, and then stopped.

for a few decades.

it has rugs and wallpaper and trim and lights and doors and accessories—probably hundreds of dollars worth of supplies.
what do you say to that besides “thanks”?!?!?
so she’ll be getting a paint job and become a family project.

well, i think that’s quite enough for today, don’t you?

i have some more posts i’m working on with all the details—what, where and how much.
for now, we just bask in the happiness of a (mostly) completed room.

linking here:

friday one-liner

2012-01-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

please tell me you've seen these

Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

an entire blog imagining ryan gosling as the perfect crafter's boyfriend.

Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

makes me laugh every single time i see one.

Source: thehappyzombie.com via Shannon on Pinterest

every. time.

so earlier in the week when ms. e had a rough night of "NO-I-REFUSE-TO-SLEEP-UNLESS-I-HAVE-BOOBIE-IN-MY-MOUTH-OR-I-WILL-KICK-YOU-IN-THE-BACK-ALL-NIGHT-WHAT'S-THAT-IT'S-7:00 AM-I-THINK-I'LL-MAKE-A-HUGE-POOP"...

yeah, it was rough. and our bedroom was a hot mess i really needed to clean.
i had to text the mister about it...

my own personal ryan gosling.

have a good weekend!
googiemomma out.

girls’ room: part III

2012-01-12T08:00:00.012-05:00

click HERE to read the initial plans

click HERE to see my “inspiration photos”

click HERE to read part I of the construction tale

click HERE to read part II of the construction tale

you know, sometimes—even when you’re in midst of home reno and you know you have bunches of stuff to be done…sometimes you have to

STOP

especially when the daddy is off work, and the googies are off school. you have to take a morning and make some homemade english muffins. you have to have grandparents over in the morning and you have to indulge in some homemade eggs benedict.

and on the thursday morning of The Project, that’s just what we did. i didn’t even take any pictures, but it looked just like THIS. only, with more sheetrock dust.

but alas, all good and fattening things must come to an end.
and into all good projects comes a little sanding.
(so many idioms to slaughter, so little time)

wall sanding? let me sum up my feelings: bllllleeeecchhhh…

what else is there to say? sheetrock sanding = bane of my existence. no matter how many times you sweep—you’ll never get it all. no matter how tightly you close the door—it will still escape. no matter how clean you kept things up to this point in the project—it DOES.NOT.MATTER.
however…
on the + side—it’s that much closer to everyone’s favorite part—PAINT (no? just me?)

after the sanding (blllleeeeecccchhhh) came the crown molding. yup—crown molding. (or is that moulding? i’m never sure) the googiedaddy loves him some mo(u)lding. crown, base, not bread. my job is to be the Hand Of Restraint. i think if i let him go our crown mo(u)lding and base
mo(u)lding would simply meet in the middle of the wall. but we manage to meet in the middle…err…by not meeting in the middle. we compromise. yeah…

and you know what? that was pretty much it for thursday.

but friday…ohhh friday.

friday had this:

and that right there? that’s good stuff.

friday we made like bread trucks.
we hauled buns. yuck yuck snort

everything in the room got caulked and primed. everything got trimmed. drawers were built, and built-up.

and by the end of friday there was this:

gasp! shut. UP.

that is firecracker. no, really—that’s the name of the color. i’m not trying to start some new catch phrase. duuuuddde…that new ithing is firecracker.
hmmm…it kind of works. maybe i should work it. you heard it here first!

aaannnnyyyway…
this is where things begin to get hazy. because up until friday i was smart enough (and coherent enough) to keep a running breakdown of what happened on what day.

but after friday it was kind of all a blur. there was painting. and more painting. and moooorrreee painting. and taping…lots and lots of taping.

there were a couple more trips to IKEA, countless more runs to home depot. outlets, switches, wall lights and chandeliers were installed. and then came the sewing.

the thing about putting 4 girls in one big room? everything is x4. wow, way to blow our minds shannon. no really, it sounds stupid--but it’s kind of a big deal. when we did harrison’s room i spent $39 on his duvet cover. not extravagant, by any means—but $39 for 1 boy vs. $39x4? ouch.

so we did get duvet covers for the girls for only $6.99 apiece, which i mentioned here. but there were pillows (5 for each bed. yeesh), curtains for the closet, curtains for…oh, well.
you know…

i think i better stop. because i think i’ve gone juuuussst about as far as i can go with this construction tale.

there we were, ~~sparkly shiny happy~~ incredibly tired but excited people doing construction with ~~much, much~~ more to do ~~and no electric~~ and a ~~very~~ kind of sick baby.

would you like to see the room?

huh? would ya?

okay.

on monday ;) promise. and you know what? it’s firecracker.

girls’ room: part II

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

click HERE to read the initial plans

click HERE to see my “inspiration photos”

click HERE to read part one of the construction tale

tuesday was probably the most eventful day of construction. and not because of anything we did. the day started with finishing the rough electrical work—all the wires fished through the walls, and finally jeremy was done in the attic. yay!

it was time to sheetrock the end walls of the bunk bed unit…

and begin spackling… there was a LOT of spackling. the mister’s first “real” job was as a finisher, so fortunately he has the skills to handle stuff like this:

a hot mess of a ceiling that’s patched together where three walls, a closet and a superfluous sheet of sheetrock were all torn down. go baby go! make that ceiling look purdy!

there was also the original electrical panel in the closet of the pink room. we installed a new service and panel in the family room years ago, so it was time for the old one to finally be ripped out.

(he says maybe we can sell this? anyone?)

and the hole patched…

see how dark it is in this picture? because this is where things got super exciting. as he was taping and spackling his little heart out there was a big BOOM and all our power went out.

grreeeeaaatt.

instant icy fingers clutching your heart—especially when you’ve just been doing some electrical work.

so in a way, we were almost relieved to look out back and see this:

that would be a HUMONGOUS tree from the woods behind our house, laying across our power lines. it was rapidly getting dark, as it does on these short winter days, and jeremy was smack in the middle of spackling an entire room.

cause nothin’ says FUN like losing power when you’re in the middle of construction. true story.

so we did the smartest thing we could think of: he used the force to finish what he could in the rapidly fading light. and then, well: when the going gets tough, the tough go to IKEA. amirite?

(that was for you megan)

bonus: it was kids eat free night. and we got kids. SCORE!

so after getting our swedish meatball on we scoured the store for all the important stuffs we needed for the girls’ room.

things like:

source

knoppa—gotta love a white flat sheet for $3.99. that’s a LOT of fabric for a small, small price. i think we bought 8.

source

virserum--lots of cheap picture frames for the walls.

source

kvartal—the ingenious hanging system.

and hands down our best score of the night (besides the FREE KIDS DINNER woot woot!)

source

alvine trad—4 twin duvet covers for $6.99 EACH.

i also picked up what is soon to become the latest fad in construction apparel.

behold: the construction slipper!

that’s right, i’m like the hugh hefner of home improvement. wielding tools in the comfort of my slippered tootsies.

(plus, you know you’re a true ikea addict when you’re wearing IKEA. oh, wait…i’ve done that before)

that wasn’t it though. we bought lots more. and spent a solid hour trying to solve our dresser problem. we needed to get the most bang for our buck—four girls in one room requires a TON of storage space. and the plan was to fill what was the closet of the pink room with dressers.

but, you know, without spending like $1000.

back and forth we went—maybe kitchen cabinets? too expensive. malm dressers? cheap enough, but too contemporary. birkeland dressers? sooo pretty, but way to expensive.

the solution we ended up with—well, we pretty much love it. and you’re going to have to wait to find out what it is. mwahahahahahah!

so, where was i? by the end of day 4 we were in hardcore construction mode.
we were ~~sparkly shiny happy~~ people doing construction with much, much more to do and no electric.

moving on to wednesday…

by the light of day jeremy could see that his ninja spackling skills left much to be desired. :(
so while i finished laying the floor he spackled and spackled some more (and if i type spackle one more time i might scream)

and then some really exciting stuff started:

the bunk beds are getting framed!

final decisions were made on heights and sizes, and by the end of the day we had this:

which seems like as good a place to stop as any, because it was also my brother and sister-in-law’s third anniversary. so we wrapped it up early that night and headed off to a family dinner.

where i totally wore my sweatpants. and laughed too much and too loud, because i was wayyyy overtired.

and there we are—five days in, ~~sparkly shiny happy people~~ doing construction with much, much more to do ~~and no electric~~. (it finally came back on. but they left the tree in our yard. boo.)

oh, and while we were at dinner poor little ms. e got suuuper sleepy. the kind of sleepy that makes you think something is not.quite.right. and your mommy senses are tingling. and so when she woke up at 2am with a 103.5 temperature…well, i wasn’t surprised.

so i guess that makes us ~~sparkly shiny happy~~ people doing construction with much, much more to do ~~and no electric~~ and a very sick baby.

me sew visiting

2012-01-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

today i’m guest posting over at me sew crazy!

jessica’s running a fun series called “reSEWlution” —what new sewing skills do you want to learn this year? what projects are you determined to conquer in the coming months?

i’m over there sharing, and oversharing (as per usual).

click over to check out my project—a super fun new dress!

(pssst--part 2 of the girls' room renovation will be up tomorrow!)

girls’ room: part I

2012-01-09T00:05:00.001-05:00

here it is. part one of our massive girls’ room project.

i explained way back HERE what the plan was—take two rooms and join them into one.
i even put my mad photoshop skilllzzz to use and drew you some diagrams:

BEFORE:

POTENTIAL AFTER:

i shared all my inspiration pins in THIS post.

colors and bedding and paint…we plotted and planned.

mr. googiedaddy drew plans…

and i drew illustrations (that literally lost perspective)

and eventually it was time to begin.

the existing doorway(s) as you come down the hallway:

(some construction had already begun when i took these shots, obvs)

the first step was cleaning out the existing rooms.

everything you own in a box to the left…to the left…

the dining room moved into the living room. the bedrooms moved into the dining room.

remember these shots i took of the girls?

this is where we took them:

dressers shoved in every corner, mattresses on the floor and against the wall. thank goodness for wide open apertures making fuzzy backgrounds ;)
keeping things relatively chaos free during construction was a big goal. one that got progressively harder as the week went on.

but back to the rooms…

ripping out the old beds…
BEFORE

AFTER

a bit painful. we built those beds and hand painted them many moons ago—when we only had girlies two instead of girlies four.
but all in the name of progress (and getting the baby out of mommy and daddy’s room!)

next up: attack the wall

oddly enough—i have always had allergy issues in this room. and when jeremy pulled the sheetrock off the wall there was a tiny bit of mold on some of the studs. only on the center studs of the interior wall. (see where he ripped the sheetrock back to see if there was any on the studs of the exterior wall?) fortunately, all the moldy studs were ones being ripped out. and i’ve had no issues at all since then.

goodbye wall!

aaaannnddd...

GONE!

the closet in guinevere’s purple room, both doorways and the dividing wall—buh-bye!

all the colors hurt ma brain. ;)

day one concluded with an epic fabric buying trip. the googiedaddy and i spent TWO HOURS gathering fabrics at joann’s. we took over an entire cutting table—mixing and matching, picking and rejecting. i filled a book with ideas and sketches and plans.

in the end we bought over $150 of fabrics. eek! it was a scary moment. it was really our first “official” purchase for the project. and it was something that set the tone for the whole thing: unreturnable fabrics--concrete purchases defining the feeling and color scheme.

there was no going back. (well, i think the missing wall did that too. but for me it was really all about fabric)

side point: googiedaddy, as i’ve mentioned, is in the custom furniture business. meaning when other gals say “i need to go buy fabric” and their husbands roll their eyes and sit in the car, my hubs is all “awesome, i need to buy a new rotary cutter. let’s go!”
so when buying fabric for the girl’s room we got into an…ahem, heated discussion at the cutting table about whether or not i would cut my pillow welt on the bias or on the grain to save fabric. (vis-a-vis—he wants to do it the “right” way…and i’m cheap)

srsly. do other women have to deal with this nonsense? ;) i appealed to the employee cutting our fabrics. she just laughed at us.

so that was the end of day one. we were not super exhausted, good progress had been made, and we were in the honeymoon phase of the project.

everything was sparkly shiny happy people doing construction.

day 2 of the project was only a half day (sunday). it involved some more demo work, cleanup, and the door went in it’s new spot…

see that hole above the door? the one normally covered in sheetrock? we gots biiiiggg plans for that hole. but that’s a post for another day :)

we were still feeling good. we were still ~~sparkly~~ shiny happy people doing construction.

and then came…electrical (duh duh duuuuhhhhh)

there was sooo much electrical work to do. so, sooo much. each bed has it’s own light and outlet. 2 ceiling lights in new spots with new switches, a light and outlets by their dresser…i definitely have the easier part of that job. i sit on the floor with my hand in the future-electrical-thing-hole, waiting for the wire. jeremy has to go climbing up in the attic, where i imagine him swinging from rafter to rafter with electrical wire wound at his side, like some sort of tarzan/indiana jones hybrid.

i think the reality is a touch less glamorous—involving sweating and squeezing and aching muscles and sticky attic insulation. yuck.

so day three was a lot of that. we also squeezed in a massive home depot shopping trip, buying 80% of what we needed to build the bed, lighting, paint, etc. we also started laying the flooring. we have ikea laminate through the entire house, but never laid it in guinevere’s room. which was a fortunate thing—we just used up the boxes we had…and came up a box short. :(

the fun part of day 3? in order to place the outlets and lights on the beds we got to do this:

the first bit of framing for the bunk beds. yay!

this was a very, very exciting moment!

so there you have it: the first three days of construction, summed up. the shine was wearing off. we were well out of the honeymoon phase and well into the “wecandothiswecandothiswecandothis” stage.

we had become ~~sparkly~~ ~~shiny~~ happy people doing construction…with much much more to do.

stick a fork in it, it’s done. like one of those big giant forks people hang on their walls. but even bigger.

2012-01-05T08:59:00.001-05:00

i almost lost my husband. no, really. he turned to me last night, when the googies were all snug in their newly finished beds, and said, “this room almost killed me.”

and i believe him. the man worked like he was possessed. 16 hour days…this week waking up at 5:30 and working at his regular job days and coming home to finish up things here in the room until 11.

two rooms joined into one, and a huge double bunk bed built.

last night was the big reveal. it was hard getting that bus into the hallway, but we managed. ;)

oh, didn’t i mention? we didn’t let the girls see their room until completion. they’ve been on pins and needles since monday—knowing it was close, asking every ~~day~~ five minutes if it was going to be done today.

and yesterday was finally, FINALLY the day.

today i try and restore order to the rest of our home. (ha) i also need to edit and write posts about the whole process of the room, which will hopefully be up next week. fair warning: i’m gonna drag this out. we worked so long and so hard on this room, and we are so stinkin’ proud of it that i’m going to use it for all it’s worth. expect LOTS and LOTS of posts of EVERY.LAST.DETAIL.

srsly. i may have one whole post devoted to how i put the sheets on the beds.
and you better like it.

until then, in true extreme home makeover fashion, i leave you with this--

the “reaction” shot

aaaannnndddd…

cut to commercial.

in case you’re having trouble getting your RDA of googiemomma. which is like 26,000 mgs. or one lame joke. whichever comes first.

2012-01-03T11:09:00.001-05:00

probably the lame joke.

boom, done for the day.

i’m a stay-at-home mom. which means that the running commentary in my head all day…well, it stays in my head all day.

try as she might, gigi just doesn’t get my humor.

she’s only three. i won’t hold it against her.

the blog provides an outlet. generally i’m writing posts in my head as i’m working on whatever project is at my fingers.

but there are always things that need saying immediately. last week i thought “boy, if only there was a way of getting these thoughts out there quickly. you know, besides calling a friend, yelling a one-liner and hanging up.”

and then, promptly on the heels of that thought, i thought “hey, i just invented twitter.”

so, if you’re looking for more googiemomma, come check me out.

or don’t. because i already have like 7 followers. including @pearljamfan, who jumped on board after i tweeted about my spectacular eddie vedder impression.
imagine how surprised he’s gonna be when he finds out i mainly tweet my whines about sewing and my kids.

ummm, but in a funny way.

and p.s. and if you have instagram, i’m on there too.

and p.p.s that’s not to say i won’t utilize the “calling a friend and yelling a one-liner and hanging up” method. cause the more i think about it…awesomespice.

girls girls girls

2011-12-29T21:09:00.000-05:00

i know i said you wouldn’t be hearing from me this week, but i need help.

we are working hard on the girls’ room. okay, googiedaddy is working hard. mainly i ~~share unsolicited opinions~~ give him advice and sweep the floor.

oh—and i do all the cyber shopping. and that is HARD.

i mean, really—sometimes i have like 5 or 6 different screens open at once. and then i have to keep it all straight in my head—was that rug at target.com or amazon? did i see those curtains at ikea or did i just dream that?

annnnyyyway…
one of my "girls' room" pinned inspiration photos is this:

Source: houzz.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and i LOVE the large print of the girls. it just says “SISTERS” to me.

so i bathed, brushed, blowdried and beautified my girlies four and set out to try and get one decent shot i could have printed up on a large canvas.

whoda thunk i would get more than one option?

and i CAN NOT decide. so, i need your help!

OPTION #1
i love gigi’s goofy face—so her. elliot looks cute, guinevere looks pretty, and ava has her typical silly face.

OPTION #2
not your typical shot, i know. but i love the relaxed, casual feel of this one. i love that elliot leaned in for a nuzzle on gigi’s cheek. and guinevere and ava’s more relaxed faces are cute.

OPTION #3
a basic, happy shot of the four girls. gigi is looking a little crazy, but, well…that’s gigi.

OPTION #4
some more serious faces. and a bit of a blurry gigi. but i like it.

OPTION #5
what is there to say? another one i love

OPTION #6
similar to the last one, just a slightly different look.

OPTION #7
everyone smiling. amazing.

so there you have it. it’s a decent investment—ordering a canvas print in a big size. so i want to make sure it’s a shot i love.
honestly—yes, i would probably love any one of these. and i know which one(s) i'm leaning towards...
but i must know…what do YOU think? i set up a little poll over on the left sidebar there.
<----------------------------o v e r ---t h a r ------------------
i’ll even let you vote for more than one… thanks!

the room is cranking right along...and it's looking awesome! i'm so excited! i've been photographing each stage, so be ready for a massive series of blog posts at the end!

googiemomma out

2011-12-23T07:00:00.013-05:00

and so it begins.
as if the family room project and the boy's room weren't enough, the googiedaddy and i have decided to go for it.
we will be spending this upcoming week tearing apart the girl's rooms to turn what was two into one. (as confusingly explained here)

i've been searching for inspiration, and have a pinterest board titled (oddly enough) "girls' room".

i think i've narrowed it down. this is the picture that got me:

Source: alamodemaven.com via Shannon on Pinterest

that striped ceiling??!!?!?!

MUST. DO.

that got me going on a red/pink/blue/white theme. so i found these:

Source: Uploaded by user via Shannon on Pinterest

Source: tobifairley.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Source: casabellaproject.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Source: decorpad.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Source: designdazzle.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Source: houseandhome.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and then the googiedaddy pointed out how much he liked the 30's hollywood glamour regency style of decorating, and how pretty it would be for a room of girls.

so we found these:

Source: roomforyoungones.com via Shannon on Pinterest

Source: decortoadore.blogspot.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and we realized how well these two looks coordinate.

so much beautiful inspiration, no?
but...i'm feeling oddly...uninspired. i don't know why. it's been a rough few nights with little miss e. she's decided that sleeping is for the birds. or for other babies. either way--not for her.

so (deep breath) i've decided to try and give up caffeine entirely.
whhhaaaaahhhhhhh

it's going to be a rough few days of transition. (to say the least).
and so help me if i don't see results IMMEDIATELY i'm back on coffee like, like...LIKE A MOM OF FIVE WHO NEEDS HER COFFEE.

okay, so--bottom line:

2 rooms into 1
dining room into temporary girls' room
red/aqua/white/maybe pink/black hollywood regency style scheme
actual purchases for the room thus far: 0
amount of work yet to be done: ALL OF IT
amount of posts you're going to see for at least the next week: 0

i'll catch you cats on the flip side (the flip side being 2012)

pumpkin cinnamon rolls with ginger cream cheese glaze

2011-12-22T09:05:00.001-05:00

really, does this post need any other words beyond the title?
i mean, honestly—it says all you need to know. (but that doesn’t mean i’m not going to add lots.more.words)

i had this recipe pinned forever on my “food i must eat one day” pinterest board. (alternate title: this is why you’re fat)
it’s a lovely recipe with spectacular photography.

Source: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com via Shannon on Pinterest

it just has one, errr…how shall i put this? not problem per se. more of an issue:

it’s vegan. meaning: no real butter, no real cream cheese, no real milk. and while i am a vegetarian i am the ovo-lacto variety because—well, put simply--the googiemomma can’t live without butter, yo. (and cheese. the googiemomma can’t live without cheese either. but that’s another blog post)

(oh, and ice cream.)

(and probably i really couldn’t live without milk. not that i drink it, cause i don’t. but: milkshakes, icing, alfredo sauce…well, you see where i’m going with this, right?)

annnnyway…so a nasty, rainy day a few weeks back provided the perfect time to work my de-veganing cinnamon roll magic in the kitchen. the recipe from healthy happy life provided a jumping off point. inspiration. sadly, i’m no stranger to this concept. i do the same with “light” recipes too.

what’s that? 4 egg whites? mmmhmm. two whole eggs. 4 tablespoons margarine? five tablespoons butterrrrr. 1/2 cup skim milk? well, to my eyes that clearly says “1/2 cup heavy cream”. isn’t that what you see?

behold:

it all starts with the dough.

i used all white flour, instead of the half whole wheat pastry flour in the original recipe. and i used half butter and half shortening in place of the vegan shortening.

for the filling i omitted the pecans. not all the kids are fans. they probably get it from me: i prefer my soft squishy foods completely soft and squishy. no crunchy bits.

don’t you love my blood pressure cuff there in the background? like i a) couldn’t be bothered to move it before taking the picture, and b) had to check my bp before indulging in these things.
again, i used regular dairy butter in place of the vegan butter called for in the original.

were i to make these again i’d probably double the filling amount. it seemed like it needed more. and face it, you’re not making these things if you’re watching the old ell bees.

they do look purdy.

then i tripped, and dropped more butter all over the tops.

oops.

and we bake…

when it came to the glaze i pretty much did my own thing. she uses vegan cream cheese and vegan butter and soy creamer and maple syrup.

i had half a block of regular cream cheese and store brand butter flavored pancake syrup, which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

so i improvised with some pumpkin cream cheese spread and some regular cream cheese, along with melted butter:

ginger powder

powdered sugar (to taste), and a splash of milk (until it was the right consistency)

rolls, still warm from the oven, before:

and after:

and we ate until our eyes were floating in our heads, awash in pumpkin gingery goodness. then we heaved ourselves onto the couch and died.

if you’re interested in my version, here’s my basic outline of ingredients. i followed the instructions found on the original recipe to make it. and one final warning: these are time consuming. about 3 1/2 hours start to finish because of rising time for the dough. but it’s totally worth it.

pumpkin cinnamon dough
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
5 cups white flour
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 packet yeast
1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup melted shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
*extra white flour as needed to handle, knead and roll out dough

cinnamon sugar filling
(these are the measurements i used. i would do at least 1 and 1/2 next time)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter

ginger cream cheese glaze 2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 cup pumpkin cream cheese
4 oz. cream cheese (1/2 block)
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2-4 Tbsp powdered sugar to thicken as desired

this is what crazy looks like

2011-12-21T07:02:00.003-05:00

didn’t see that one coming, didja?

probably you expected “crazy” to be less curtain-y and more…

okay, so i don’t know how to draw crazy. thankfully this is my blog, not the World Pictionary Championships.
cause if it was, and you were on my team, you’d probably be all cursing wiggly arm person! drunk person with head on fire! zombie girl in the snow! GAH! what iiiis it???? and i’d be like uhhh NO! can’t you tell crazy when you see it? i would never wear an a-line shift dress with a shape like this! that’s CRAZY!

(and do they even have World Pictionary Championships? because if they do i’m totally there)

but really, truly—i thought i may just lose my mind making these curtains. why?

because this is where i started:

one flat gray sheet, one flat white sheet, both twin size.

(or, actually, one fitted gray sheet because i grabbed the wrong one and didn’t realize it until i took this picture. boo.)

i ~~whined about~~ discussed my troubles finding reasonably priced gray and white striped curtains for the family room.
i was seriously considering the tape and paint solution that most people out there on the interwebs have used. but in the end even the $20-$40 that would have cost me proved too heavy for my pocketbook.
my final solution was simple: two $5 sheets from walmart, cut into strips and sewn back together.

4 curtain panels for $10.
it doesn’t get much easier or cheaper than that. straight lines all the way.

i laid the sheets out together and folded them in half, pinning liberally to keep it all in place.

i measured my sheets/curtains and divided. i wanted 5” stripes, so i cut 6” strips, giving myself a 1/2” seam allowance on either side.

it wasn’t until after i cut all my strips that i realized the undertaking i had just…undertaken.

(16 strips per curtain x 2 sets of curtains) x 2 sides to each strip + 4 long edges to hem =
FOUR HOURS OF SEWING

FOUR hours of chug chug chugging on my machine in completely straight boring lines, nary a curve or dart in sight to break up the monotony.

in other news: why don’t sewing machines have cruise control?

i sewed my single strips into sets of two, and pressed them all—ironing some pellon on all the seams because i didn’t want to line them (i like the translucent look the cheap cotton has. i was actually looking for even cheaper curtains with a lower thread count)

then i sewed my twos into fours, pressed and pelloned.

the fours into eights, pressed and pelloned.

the eights into sixteens, pressed and pelloned.

the two big sixteens into four big sixteens, pressed and hemmed.

after four hours i had four curtains.

ahhh the troubles i have. #firstworldproblems, anyone?

and then we decided they were too white.

the chair fabric going in front of the windows is more off white than crisp white.

enter the tea dye.

we did a test swatch:

and it was approved. not too different—just a subtle color change. so we moved on to the big tea bath.

and then they got rinsed in the washer, and hung to dry.

when i realized i had to iron them. again.
well, let’s just say it wasn’t pretty…

but you know? i kinda want to marry them (sorry babe)

not that i’m ready to do it again any time soon. but these curtains were kind of like having a baby…they’re so pretty to look at, i’m starting to forget the pain.

they are NOT, however, easy to photograph. i got a lot of this:

which is dramatic and all…but not too helpful for actually showing the curtains. nevermind the imp hiding in the lower right corner.

eventually two chairs in our accent fabric will be in front of these windows. but for now it’s a good spot for our stuffed animal chairs to live.

comfy and just right for enjoying a favorite book.

can i just say it again—4 curtains, $10. TEN DOLLARS.
can’t beat that. not with a stick.

linking up here:
http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

curry cream soup

2011-12-20T07:01:00.001-05:00

is there anything better than a hot belly-warming soup on a cold winter night?

methinks not.

i love sitting around the dinner table with a fresh loaf of bread and a steaming hot pot of soup, everyone chatting and slurping and cozy. it’s winter time and family time at their finest, all rolled up together.
this recipe comes by way of my 30-minute meals cookbook (not a rachel ray book, just a generic “30 minute meals”) but as i cooked it the other night i realized that i wasn’t doing anything the recipe actually called for.

now, this is not unheard of--i follow recipes the same way i follow patterns. which is to say, not at all.
but when i realized i was basically using the printed recipe as a memory aid—where it said “shallots” i thought “1/2 an onion,” when i read “coconut milk” i grab evaporated milk from the pantry—well, i figured it was high time to just write up my own recipe.

this soup has just enough spice to it to warm you nicely. my kids eat it no problem, even the 3 year old. but you can always omit the jalapeno pepper if you want.

lately i’ve been using the mini ravioli from trader joe’s.

but it’s also good with cheese tortellini, which is actually how i normally make it.

because this is more of a wintertime meal, i don’t usually have fresh basil. so i generally keep some of this on hand:

each cube = 1 tsp of basil. i get this at trader joe’s too.

this soup comes together so quickly it’s a great go-to dinner for hectic nights. the flavors make it seem like it took much longer to whip up!

MINI RAVIOLI CURRY CREAM SOUP

ingredients 1 large onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic (or 2 cloves, finely chopped)
4 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large container vegetable or chicken broth (or 2 cans)
2 cans evaporated milk
1 pkg. mini ravioli (or 2 packs of tortellini)
2 tbsp fresh or frozen basil
2 cans diced tomatoes, drained (or 2 medium tomatoes, chopped)

in a large saucepan cook onion, jalapeno pepper, garlic and curry powder in hot oil about 1 minute or until onion is tender.
stir in broth. bring to a boil, then add pasta.
**boil for half the recommended time for the type of pasta you are using.

stir in the evaporated milk, basil and tomato.

cook and stir about 5 minutes more or until pasta is tender but still firm.

serve with a crusty loaf of fresh bread, a glass of wine, and maybe a side salad if you need fiber.

bon appetit!

linking up here:
http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

friday brain dump + instagram fun + a link up!

2011-12-16T14:50:00.000-05:00

*1
i finished my family room curtains, and the curtains for harrison's room 2 weeks ago. and i've been planning on blogging them, like, pretty much every day. but i haven't yet gotten around to it.

and by "gotten around to it" i really mean "felt like cleaning up the mess around it so i can take pictures that look like we live like clean people and not like dirty people"

it was super hard to take this spectacular photo from the couch. i had to kind of sit up, and twist a bit to the side.

meh, maybe next week.

*2
i've been lusting after rain boots. big time. stalking them in every store and website i think of/visit. but i've been unable to pull the trigger, seeing as all the ones i really love are like $30+.
last night though--
::insert angelic "aahh-AHHHHH" sound here::

one pair, an online return, clearanced down to $8.28 (by monkeys with calculators? srsly, who comes up with these numbers?), only 1/2 size larger than my shoe size (i'll wear thick socks)

granted--they're not houndstooth checked. but come on people--EIGHT BUCKS??
winning.
*3

i'm drowning in navy houndstooth.
8 yards bought on black friday weekend for $1.99/yd = matching googies! yay! i don't care. i'm a dork and i'll match them as long as i have strength to thread a needle.
or until they revolt, whichever comes first.

but i'm almost done.
what you see above is the end result of my personal sweat shop.

also, what you see below is the end result of my personal sweat shop.

ugh.
you'll see actual photos eventually.

*4
i fed five the other day. well, i feed her everyday. but this particular day she turned her head just as i was giving her a spoonful. the smear looked JUST LIKE a mustache and goatee.

don't believe me?

amirite? laughed for hours over that one.
even the tongue sticking out. she's all "now go away or i shall taunt you a second time. bfffftttttt"

*5
how do we feel about babies with earrings? cause i may have gotten five's ears pierced.
okay, i totally did. and i just don't want to get a bunch of "you horrible pain-inflicting monster!"-type comments.
she cried for like a split second and it was over. just like the other three before her.

and plus she looks super cute.

*6

my header. this one i'm not so happy about. it's kind of a placeholder header until i find/create a new one i like.
any suggestions?

*7

finally, i'm linking up my random list here:

a link up of randomness. awesome randomness one can only assume.

have a good weekend!
googiemomma out.

five at six

2011-12-15T07:30:00.000-05:00

this is crazy late, but it was worth it. i waited until the time was right—the sun was shining, the baby was happy, the three year old was otherwise engaged.

prepare for photo overload, because sometimes you win some.

*weight—not sure, i totally spaced on her 6 month checkup and had to reschedule. somewhere between “poo-splosions in size 2 diapers” and “butt falling out of size 3 diapers”.

*height—see above.

*eyes—just blue enough to melt your heart

*cheeks—just chubby enough for spectacular kisses. right in that triangle between cheek, ear and neck.

hair—just long enough that she wakes up with the most awesome bed head. like a fluffy baby ducky.

*skillzzz—mad. things such as: sitting up, clapping hands. boom—done. we’ve even flirted with the “bye-bye wave”. also: the ability to detect mommy’s tip-toes—no matter how quiet—when screaming in her bed.

you guys? i DO.NOT.WANT.MORE.BABIES.

but what in the world do i do…

about THIS?????

can i really make this my last swing through babytown????

cupcake demolition

2011-12-14T08:06:00.000-05:00

so what do you do when you have a party and there’s a bunch of cupcakes left over and you conveniently happen to have a 6 month old just sitting there?

well that’s just obvious.

you strip her down and plop a cupcake in front of her (and grab your camera, of course.)

cause with your first baby you’re all rice cereal ONLY for a month, then applesauce ONLY for a week, then carrots ONLY for a week, and maybe in a year we’ll try something crazy like peachs and blueberries together! gasp!
and with your fifth baby you’re all rice cereal, applesauce, CHOCOLATE CAKE YAY!

i love how she was like “hmm, this is new…”

“what in the WORLD???”

she was not having it.

i tried helping her out. forcing a little taste.

but give it some time…

and she’ll figure it out…

and once she gets wind of what’s happening here…

all. bets. are. off. i love how you can see the dawning realization here. her taste buds just went WHAT?!?!?!?

you had me at hello.

oh it was worth every crumb-sweeping second.

especially when you get a freshly washed towel-hair baby at the end.

chalkboard glasses, check. i’m so pinterest hip now.

2011-12-13T07:57:00.002-05:00

so, we have this friend who’s getting married. and i was on the phone with his mom and she was telling me how they want to do the wine glasses with chalkboard paint on them as favor/placecards for the wedding (you know, the ones all over the interwebs like here and here), and they were experimenting with chalkboard spray paint but they weren’t sure about it. so i was like “oh, they make special chalkboard paint you can use on stuff like that, you paint it on and then you bake it. i have some i bought like 4 million years ago, give or take, cause i saw that and thought it was super cool and wanted to do it.” and then she was like “oh, really? how well does it work?”

and then…well, i had no answer for her. because i never used it.

BUT…

i promptly dug it out, and painted all my wineglasses.

and then anything else i could get my hands on in my whole kitchen. because that's how cool this stuff is.

paint ordered here

first all my wineglasses…

i did two coats on everything. you really need to hold it up to the light to make sure you’ve covered everything you want covered.

then i got itchy paintbrush fingers and started prowling the kitchen. i found my trifle bowl…

and marked off a rectangle with masking tape…

and had at it. this one ended up needing three coats.

my next ~~victim~~ ~~experiment~~ project?

the three tiered serving piece my sister-in-law gave us. (hi sister-in-law! don’t be angry! i love it!)

three edges—taped off and painted. bam.

then everything got it’s turn in the oven—350 degrees for 30 minutes.
do i love it?

(who has two thumbs and needs to learn how to spell radish???)

oh yeah. i love it.

(did ya notice this in my baby shower post?)

i’m not done. not hardly. i used not even half of one bottle, and i bought two.

i even started a whole pinterest board of chalkboard ideas (check it here). some of my favs:

the chalkboard lunchbox love note

Source: frecklescrafts.com via Shannon on Pinterest

chalkboard blocks for the kiddos

Source: blogs.babble.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and this is just cool (not very practical though)

Source: mytrendytykes.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and, if you’re not ready to completely commit to chalkboard paint EVERYWHERE, did you know they make this:

Source: amazon.com via Shannon on Pinterest

BOOM! chalkboard CONTACT PAPER!
so whaddaya think? any other chalky ideas you can throw at me?

link here:

a new baby V

2011-12-12T07:27:00.001-05:00

no, i didn’t get rid of my baby V.

this past friday i hosted a small “welcome baby” gathering.

we kept it simple: everyone contributing a dish, decor kept to a minimum.
i found these napkins at target and worked off them for everything else.

who doesn’t love polka dots? i grabbed a length of fabric from my stash to use as a table runner. the birds and trees and bright colors matched perfectly.

for the rest of the decor—i’m not kidding when i say i kept it simple.

i bought six sheets of scrapbook paper from michael’s (which i forgot to take a picture of before i went punch happy). they were on sale 10/$1.
the stickers were from walmart, $1.
the rest of it i had.

toothpicks + paper circles + masking tape + sticker =

cupcake toppers for double chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow icing.

wooden skewers + yarn + paper circles folded in half =
cake topper for the italian creme cake (the new momma’s favorite)

trader joes candy cane jo-jos + cream cheese + chocolate chips =

mint chocolate truffles. whaaaat? yup.

paper circles + thread (inspired by this) =

happy little garland hung over the table

scrapbook paper (cut in triangles) + masking tape + yarn =

bunting hung in the doorway (plus some matching balloons. cause no party is complete without balloons)

a group of gals, chatting and eating and cooing over the man of the hour

the real baby V (hehe). born in october (almost a month early…thus the lateness of this party) to a happy mommy, daddy, big brother and big sister.

he’s got gorgeous long dark hair, his momma’s big beautiful lips, and was just diagnosed with downs syndrome. he could not have been born to a better momma. she’s ready to help him face the challenges headed his way with a strong happy spirit.

:)

welcome to the world little man. we’re so happy to meet you!

linking up here:

bean bag surprise

2011-12-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

a couple weeks ago i shared this tutorial over at bless by tone. in case you missed it i'm reposting it here.

okay—here it is. a not-so-secret secret amongst most moms (at least all the ones i know):

we HATE stuffed animals.
kids LOVE stuffed animals.

they are purposeless, dust-catching, they take up loads of space and there’s no good way to store them, and if your kids are like mine—they rarely (if ever) play with them—but scream and throw a fit if you try and get rid of them.

sometimes i swear these things breed in the night. they’re everywhere—multiplying like rabbits—even despite my best efforts to corral them, sneak them into the trash, and even enact a stuffed animal embargo in this house.

then i found this:

brilliant.
a bean bag chair, minus the beans, plus the animals.
so, not technically a bean bag chair.
more a stuffed animal chair.

GENIUS!
thus was born:

it’s fully lined, with a layer of stuffing in between so that even when the kiddos take out some stuffed animals to play with (riiight) it still has some cushioning.

and the bottom has a nice big zipper for easy access to all our fuzzy friends.

wanna make your own? here’s how i did it!
to make things easier to photograph, i made a miniature sized one. the principles are the same, just size it up for real life :)

i’m going to give you the basic outline of how i made this, but your exact measurements can vary, so your yardage etc. will also depend on how big you want your bean bag—and how many you want to make—maybe your kids are stuffed-animal-aholics who need like five or six of these babies. i don’t judge.

and

tricky, right?
on my final product there was about a three inch difference between the outside and inside pieces. just enough space to get a bit of stuffing in there.

now here’s the extra tricky bit. with five sides, our base has to be a pentagon.

what i failed to realize when coming up with this design is that apparently the pentagon is, like, pretty much the hardest shape to draw. ever.

(and you thought triangles were hard. amateur.)

i googled, i youtubed…i admitted defeat(before i even started) . anyone who’s a regular reader of my blog knows that I DON’T MATH. EVER. PERIOD.
so, if you’d like to be better than me: be my guest. get your compass, your ruler, and your extra large bottle of aspirin and head here for instructions on making a Perfect Pentagon. lemme know how that works for ya. i can tell you that the sum of your angles must be 540 degrees. how you get there is your business.

but i come from the land of Good Enough (which is across the river of Fudged from the country of Almost, But Not Quite Perfect), and this is how we Good Enoughians roll.

let’s face it: it’s a stuffed animal filled bag. does it really have to be mathematically perfect? methinks not.

straighten it out as best you can. channel your inner mathematician.

this is your pattern piece for the bottom.

now let’s put in the zipper!

now we turn our attention back to the body of the s.a.c.

we’re on the home stretch now!! it’s time to assemble everything.

BUT: somehow i skipped a lot of pictures of this part. sorry! trust me though—it’s not difficult.

first, line up your outside beanie (or beanie outside, whichever) with the bottom zipper piece—right sides together, matching seams to pentagon points.

sew that up.

now sew your lining to the bottom piece, right sides together. try to follow the same stitching line you made
sewing your outsides on to the bottom.

because i forgot to take a picture, i made you this handy drawing:

you’re making a hamburger:
top bun=outside
meat=zippered bottom piece
bottom bun=lining

now you have to reach through the hole in the lining, and pull the outside through. at that point the whole thing will now be inside out, so just unzip it and flip it right side out.

sew up the hole in your lining.

final steps:

i made two of these things.

one was big enough to fit all the stuffed animals. i counted 40. no joke.

the other got filled with all the dress up clothes:

these things are AMAZING.
seriously. i knew i would love them once i got around to making them.

but they’re almost worthy of the term “life-changing”.
i don’t completely detest stuffed animals anymore.
i may even let my kids get more.

nah.

but of course, the one the kids like the most?

the tiny one i made as a photo sample.
they all fought over it.

and i realized as i watched them, with just a touch of irony…
i just made them a great little toy to make them play with
all
    the
          stuffed
                   animals.

takk for a ha meg!
google translate tells me that says "thanks for having me!"...but we all know how reliable those things are :)
and i'm so proud of myself...making it the whole way through without a single fjord joke. hehehe

hot tip

2011-12-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

because i love you:

walmart has a singer sewing machine, normally $189, on sale in this week's ad for $99.

Source: walmart.com via Shannon on Pinterest

it did not ring up that price at the register--so make sure you take the ad with you! and be prepared for the managers to be all whhaaaattt???? is this right????

also--it is listed both ways online--the normal price of $189.97, but i found another listing for $99, with free site-to-store shipping. (the $99 one doesn't say "fashion mate" on the machine. the one in the ad does??)

i got one for my girls to learn on, and as a backup machine. it's well worth the $99.

just don't try the walmart near me...there's no more :)

extreme home makeover: boy’s room edition (part III)

2011-12-05T11:05:00.002-05:00

four.

four bags of trash, boxes, broken toys, miscellaneous flim-flam, unused items…

and he asked me when he came home “you didn’t throw anything away, did ya mom?”

“only trash, harrison. only trash.” :)

the room is clean. it’s neat and orderly.
our goals:
       * updated and modern, a little baseball-y for him--but neutral enough that we don't have to redo again in a couple of years.
      * a place for EVERYTHING, and everything in it's place--spots for toys, clothes, legos, books, papers and pens
      * a desk for him to work at and create at
      * fun touches to make him excited

and i'm pretty sure we accomplished our goals.
it’s a little bit vintage baseball…

the pillows made from fabric bought online…somewhere. i can’t remember. i just googled “vintage baseball fabric” and bought a few different types from a few different places. i have more, but this is the only one i used so far.

the grey/brown/navy duvet cover is from ikea. his bed we had (also from ikea). i have a big art project to do for over his wall…that’s coming.

we got rid of the dresser and did a high basket filled unit (from ikea). i still have to make a curtain for the front.

the pictures i bought here.

i think they’re really neat—and perfect for combining a boy’s desire for “BASEBALL ROOM” with a mom’s desire for something a bit more classic.

here’s a better look at one from my pinterest board:

Source: everythingbaseballcatalog.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and an organized toy chest (ikea)—that still has empty spots to be filled

the Pièce de résistance though?
his giant workbench/desk:

this was the googiedaddy’s workbench, languishing unused in the shed since he lost his home workshop.
we dug it out and set up on the front porch…

where it got a good cleaning, bolt tightening, sanding and staining with grey stain.

in the room it’s bordered by a new bookshelf on the left (ikea)

some shelves filled with books, some baskets for hiding the…treasures.

the red shelves above he had in his room before. but they were more RED!!!!, not rrrreeeddd. you know? so we hit them with some spray paint.

and an organization system from the home depot for his legos beneath that, reminiscent of the ones he loves reading about in his lego magazine...

the bins hang on a bracket that screws into the wall. 4 bins and the bracket were $7.99.

and we spent about 2 hours dividing the legos into color. and yes, i know it may never look like this again—but it makes this momma’s OCD heart happy.
of course, if any of my kids were going to keep it as organized as i have it now--it would be him. maybe there's hope?

the barstools were hand-me-downs from a friend. they got a coat of dark blue spray paint, a recovered seat and the legs cut down to fit his workbench. (we bought the little rubber feet at walmart—like $1.88/4)

and that’s it. i still have to do the window treatments (curtains are done, need blinds), and the wall art over his bed.

but for one whirlwind weekend, and not much money, we’re super happy with the results!

thanks for reading!

i'm linking up here:

extreme home makeover: boy’s room edition (part II)

2011-12-02T11:16:00.001-05:00

he was three years old. he was a buzz fanatic. it was 2005.

okay, i have to admit: i’m a buzz fanatic. toy story ranks up there as one of my all-time favs. so i was perfectly happy to indulge my little man’s obsession.

the googiedaddy and i worked up a plan and spent late nights assembling furniture and painting and sewing.

okay, it actually looked a lot better when he was little and i was in charge of keeping it clean.

but it was still a cool buzz room. it had a wild paint job—lime green and dark blue and yellow lightening bolts.

this used to be three red shelves neatly arranged with buzz and woody items. now it’s a nine-year old hoarder’s dumping ground.

striped curtains i sewed each and every star for (rather poorly, i might add. but that’s a lot of stars)

pillows i made with appliqués i ordered from ebay. at the time NOBODY sold buzz fabric, comforters--ANYTHING. it was that time after toy story 2 was over, before the toy story renaissance of 3, and buzz and woody were like the forgotten stepchildren of disney.

we cobbled the room together with things we found online and in stores over the next couple of years, and the comforter i managed to find at ross after everyone else stopped carrying it.

my personal favorite feature: a mural sized buzz blasting off into space.

i drew it, we painted it. this was before the days of vinyl room decor—where in 10 minutes you can cover your walls with any theme you choose. if we wanted a buzz on the wall it was going to be a couple hours of drawing and painting to get him there.

so that’s what we did: quite a few hours of painting.

there was other things too--the black splotches where i dropped the paintbrush making one final touchup right before we revealed the room to harrison.

oh that made me so mad.

the footprints in the closet where a one year old ava walked through the paint, so we used her foot as a stamp.

and that periwinkle and yellow combo was the very first paint job i did in this room, before we moved in back in 2002. it was 2 year old guinevere’s room, and i was 8 months pregnant with harrison.

it’s hard to believe we’ve been here so long. this february will be 10 years since we bought this house. we’ve made our mark on just about every surface—and in the case of rooms like this—2 or 3 times even. ;)

okay, enough of the trip down memory lane.

so this is where we started on thursday:

we cleaned the room out and got one coat of primer on in the afternoon

goodbye buzz. not gonna lie—this hurt. but it was time. i did threaten cutting this piece of drywall out and making googiedaddy patch it. but, well, that’s just silly.

(that’s googiedaddy’s happy primer dance. he says my blog will get more traffic if i put up more pics of him. i told him if he’s really serious he’s going to have to wear chaps and let me take pictures of his butt and post them, a la pioneer woman. i’ll call him…some-other-cigarette-name man)

friday was more primer, ripped out the girl’s bedroom door and used it as a closet door, and started assembling furniture. also some electrical work, first coat of paint, some trim work and…well, i kind of forget. it was really all a blur.

by the time we went to bed friday night we had this:

saturday was the last hurrah. harrison was coming home on sunday and there was no time. we fell into bed exhausted at 11:30.

but it was worth it. the final result was a Big Boy Room, with touches of baseball and legos just right for a 9 year old boy, and hopefully good enough to see him through 18 without too many changes.

and on monday, i’ll show it to you.

extreme home makeover: boy’s room edition (part I)

2011-12-01T08:33:00.000-05:00

i told you, didn’t i?

this is the time of year when we get CAH-RAZY in these here parts.

the family room is almost, but not quite done. (pictures forthcoming…we’re still waiting on 2 chairs)

so we’re moving on. five needs to sleep in her crib. as of right now she’s in a playpen in our room. the initial plan was two girls in each of the bigger bedrooms, and the boy in the tiny room.

remember the tiny room? the one i waxed poetic about here, and then started re-doing for guinevere, and before it even got finished we had another (girl) baby and things have to change again…remember that? ugh.

okay, it’s awesome diagram time.
this is a not to scale, but sizes are proportionately okay, if not entirely correct, drawing:

so right now guinevere is alone in the small bedroom #1, ava and gigi share bedroom #2, and harrison has bedroom #3.

bedrooms 2 and 3 are pretty close in size (i think 3 is about a foot smaller on one side or something like that).

plans have changed…again. and it was all because of this:

Source: augustfields.blogspot.com via Shannon on Pinterest

is that not pretty much the coolest thing ever?

this gal over at august fields has one of the most gorgeous homes i've seen on the web. her kitchen is positively drool-worthy.
and the boys' bunk room is just awesome.

when the kids saw it they wanted it immediately. and when i showed it to the googiedaddy, i think it was about .05 seconds before he had his tape measure out and a pencil tucked behind his ear (that’s the sign that he’s really working—pencil tucked behind the ear)

and this is what we’ve come up with:

it's very exciting. but i'm practical--and i try to think through every contingency.
i have 3 concerns with this awesome plan:

o1) we just took our 4 bedroom house and turned it into a 3 bedroom house. resale?

well, we don’t plan on leaving here. ever. but if needed, the googiedaddy can put the wall back up easily. and it’s still a 3 bedroom. it’s not like we’re making it a 2 bedroom.

o2) FOUR girls sharing one bedroom? is that insane? is 18 year old guinevere really going to want to sleep in a bunk bed and share a bedroom with 7 year old elliot?

okay, so this is a big one. and basically our answer as parents is: too bad. we strive to have a close knit family. we want our children to love each other and have lasting true friendships. i don’t have a biological* sister, and unabashedly tell you that i’m jealous of my girls having so many sisters. so yes, while there ~~may be~~ ~~probably will be~~ definitely will be tears and fights at points, in the long run this is what we want for our family.
and as a secondary point—the girls will have to share either way. the options aren’t “each girl in her own room” vs. “all 4 together”. it’s share with one sister in a smaller space, or share with all sisters in a bigger space.

*while i lament my lack of biological sister(s), i am blessed by many sisters from another mother..and father. you know who you are ;)

o3) desk space. starting with middle school (7th grade here) we will be home/cyber schooling the kids. for guinevere this is next year (AHHH!) we gave her a desk in preparation for that in the little room, with the new big room there’s not really room for that.

honestly, as of right now we don’t have a solution for this. but we’ll figure something out.

BUT WAIT! didn’t you title this post: boy’s room???

yes, yes i did. because as excited as we are about all of this planning for the girls’ room the fact is harrison is just as in need of a room makeover. so that was step one. even though he was keeping the same bedroom, at 9 years old he had definitely outgrown the buzz lightyear theme.

:(

i has the “my little boy is getting big” sads.

so this past weekend we did a whirlwind room makeover for him. we didn’t send him to disney, but
we did send him to a friend’s house.

and tomorrow i’m going to share all the “befores” so come back for that!

true story.

2011-11-29T22:31:00.000-05:00

i've been writing this over and over in my head for the last week.

how do i go about explaining what an amazing thing happened?

how i took a chance...shared something i don't normally talk about...
and
it
was
incredible

the comments i got here on the blog? beautiful. the emails i got sent directly? eye opening. the phone calls i received from friends who read my blog? humbling.

and i learned.

i learned there are so many people suffering with depression and anxiety. which, technically, i think we all know. but THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE SUFFERING with depression and anxiety.
people you brush shoulders with everyday, and you don't know it. people whose lives you read about on the internet, and you don't know it. people you've never met, who read what you wrote and say "HEY! me too!"

Source: kuncara.tumblr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

and isn't that what we all want to some extent? to know that we're not alone? that we're not (entirely) crazy? that we're not the only one...

so thank you, everyone. for letting me know that i'm not the only one. or for letting me know you care, even if you can't entirely understand.

i thought one of the most profound things i read was in one of my comments. in case you missed it...

"If you were paralyzed from the waist down, and were sitting in a room where in the corner was EVERYTHING you needed to be happy, would anyone fault you for not getting up and walking over to it? Would they call you lazy? Or would they recognize that it was not something you could physically do for yourself? Depression is the same exact thing. Everything you need to be happy is just out of reach, but you literally cannot get there on your own."
such a simple description. yet so accurate.

as for me? i'm still on my lower dose of meds, and i'm staying here for a while. we'll see.

after a few rough nights, the littlest googie is now in her own bed, sleeping through the night sans milkies. uninterrupted sleep is a positive change i'm hoping will help.

it's virtually unanimous that exercise helps with depression. and i'm taking the bull by the horns: i started a new exercise routine.
not gonna lie--it's a struggle.
i hate every.single.second. on that blasted treadmill. but i'm doing it for my family--for my husband, my children. for me.
and right across from my treadmill i hung a quote i printed out. it wasn't on purpose--i just loved it and wanted it up in the family room. but i find as i walk i'm staring at it.

Source: stumbleupon.com via Shannon on Pinterest

okay, no.
i lied. that's not really the one.

but that one makes me for real LOL every time i read it.

this is the one i've taken to heart:

yes. let's all be awesome, shall we?

thank you.

i pretty much consider myself an ambassador

2011-11-24T09:33:00.000-05:00

looking for me?
well you won't find me here today! cause i'm in NORWAY ya'll!

okay, so i'm not really in norway.
BUT, i am guest posting over at tone's blog. and SHE'S in norway.
sooo, the way i see it--

i'm in NORWAY ya'll!

and i'm super proud of myself because norway is like, second on my list of Countries That Make Me Giggle.
#1 is canada, and the list has 2 spots.

actually, it may be reversed--because while canada has it's "eh", and "dontcha know?", and moose--and face it, moose are just FUNNY, norway makes me think about things like slartibartfast and fjords. and saying the word 'fjords' makes my mouth happy.
and then i think: "maybe he's pinin' for the fjords." "he's not pinin' for anything you idiot. he's dead".

and then i disintegrate into giggles and bad british accents.

basically, i'm a riot.

what was i saying again?

OH--i'm super proud of myself. because despite all of the above, and the fact that the only other things i know about both norway and canada are what i learned at epcot, i managed to make it through my entire guest post without alienating either country.

i think.

i dunno. why not head over and check me out? cause actually, i'm sharing a REALLY COOL PROJECT!

the one where i get serious

2011-11-22T08:00:00.001-05:00

Source: tumblr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

**edited to add: i’m posting this without really proofing it. i kinda don’t want to reread it. sorry for typos, and sorry if it doesn’t make complete sense. it’s kind of a stream of consciousness type thing.

i’m not even entirely sure how to begin this post.

the other day i wrote myself a schedule. it contained 15-25 minute time increments, during which i was going to do things like: clean kitchen, clean living room, vacuum living/dining/play rooms, clean bathroom.

i set the timer, and i started.

what my list didn’t have: time to take care of my sick baby.
when she cried, i squeezed in a little five minute nip for her.
it was about the time that i was on my hands and knees in the bathroom: scrubbing the floor with one hand, holding a screeching, snotty, coughing baby in the other hand that it hit me.
WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING?
and why am i doing it?

i know why i’m doing it: because the day before, i did nothing. i barely got out of bed. i didn’t ever change out of my jammies. i’m pretty sure i never even brushed my teeth. my older three got ready for school on their own, packed their own lunches, and the three year old spent way too much time in front of the tv.

i puttered around the house, knowing i should do something. but what? and why?

here’s what i’m dancing around: depression. post-partum, or just your regular old garden variety.

i’m not gonna act like i’m doing something AMAZING and unheard of by discussing this in a relatively public forum. obviously brooke shields has been here before me.

but i feel the need to share.

for me, it runs in quick cycles of an almost manic-depressive type: long days of nothingness, followed by frantic days of manic activity. wonky sleep schedules: nights of insomnia, followed by endless naps and 8:30 bedtimes.

baby #2 was when it first reared it’s ugly head. i didn’t sleep. i was 22 years old, with a 2 year old and a newborn, and i never slept. i would stay awake all night long, puttering around our newly-purchased home, painting and organizing.
when the sun finally came up i’d crawl wearily into bed. the googiedaddy would head off to work, and i would close my eyes for 2 or 3 hours before my babies woke up.
and the thoughts. oh, the crazy crazy thoughts! never EVER of harming myself or my babies. but i was so, SO scared something bad was going to happen. jeremy would leave for work and i would break down in tears, convinced he was going to die. i would sit at a red light and watch cars cross the intersection and think “what if i didn’t see that red light and didn’t stop and that guy HIT me and i DIED???” and all of it would play out in my head like the most morbid horrifying movie and i would sob and sob.
i kind of thought…well, i don’t know what i thought. i didn’t really talk about it.
and right about the time i started thinking maybe it wasn’t normal, maybe i should talk to someone about this, i had an epiphany: maybe this is that ‘post-partum depression’ i’ve heard about.
huh.
and just that quickly—i was fine. i was all better.

with baby #3 i was more prepared. i was waiting for it. and when she was born our life was a whirlwind: a house undergoing major construction, running our own business, a 4 year old and 2 year old and newborn with a clubfoot and weekly doctor’s visits and cast changes and and and…

i started down that road—the crazy “what-if” thoughts. the morbid dramas playing out in my brain. and i remember distinctly thinking to myself one day
STOP.
you DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS.

that was it. simply, i did not have the TIME to ALLOW myself to be depressed. to have post partum depression.

so i didn’t. weird, huh?
for a long time i was fine. i had dark times, here and there. but nothing drastic. like most women there was

always certain times of the month when i was a bit more prone to sadness and melancholy.

when i got pregnant with #4 i was over the moon. i had wanted another baby for a couple of years. this was our first planned pregnancy, and despite my sickness and tiredness i couldn’t WAIT to hold another baby in my arms.
but it was 2008.
do you remember 2008? it’s the year that the economy completely
t
a
   n
     k
        e
           d
without getting into too much of it, our family owned business did the same. we went months without a paycheck. we lived off our credit cards and savings. those same credit cards were maxed out to pay our employees salaries’ and buy supplies for the few jobs we did get.
we had three children and another one on the way.

whether it was hormones, or being older or something completely different or a combination i don’t know.
but that time, i couldn’t deal. i couldn’t will it away. or tell myself to STOP.

i started suffering first from anxiety. then panic attacks. i would awaken in the dead of night and completely go bonkers. i couldn’t stop my brain. i literally could not stop my legs from moving and kicking. i would cry and be hysterical and unable to control the thoughts. unable to move on, to talk myself out of it. apologizing over and over to jeremy for my craziness. for waking him up. for being unable to stop.

what if we lose our house? WHAT IF WE LOSE OUR HOUSE? and the logical side of me would say, “yeah. what if we lose our house? we have strong families who love us. it’s FAR from the end of the world.”
and yet…

i was simply unable to cope. it was a dark time. and it was time to get help. my midwife suggesting talking to my primary doctor. my primary doctor was afraid to do anything, considering i was five months pregnant.
i don’t blame either of them—they are both excellent practitioners. but i see clearly how easily these kinds of things remain untreated. it is a huge, difficult step to take to ask for help. and when that cry for help isn’t immediately answered, it’s all to easy to forget about it. to retreat back into your shell.

my midwife met me at the office on her day off to talk with me. she felt strongly that i was in a place that required medication to help me to cope. i agreed.

i have been on that medication now for almost 3 1/2 years. through my pregnancy with gigi, post-partum with her. throughout my pregnancy with elliot and now post-partum.
i tried coming off once, but it boiled down to this: i am a better mother on it.
i’m not going to debate the pros and cons. i’m not going to listen to anyone’s opinion who is not my personal medical provider.

but the facts for me are thus: if i have high blood pressure, and i choose not to medicate, the only one who suffers is ME. if i have a headache, and i choose not to medicate, the only one who suffers is ME.
if i have depression and anxiety and i choose to live that way, the ones to suffer are my FAMILY. my children. my husband.
and it’s not fair to them.

the problem is my medicine doesn’t seem to be working quite as well these days. they say it could be because i’ve been on it so long. my body could be adjusting.

we tried raising my dosage.

it was a very odd feeling. i was still depressed. i was still down. i was still sad. but i was very flat.
“shannon, your clothes are on fire.”
“meh. oh well. never much liked these pants anyway.”

Source: jackcards.com via Shannon on Pinterest

i realized that was not the way to go. we discussed switching medications. for now though, i’ve gone back to my normal dose. we also discussed “talking to someone.” i’m not entirely sure i want to go that route. maybe this, this blog post—this can be my talking to someone. i tend to keep myself to myself in these kinds of things. i have a hard time saying the words out loud. it’s easier for me to write them. i picture myself sitting in a therapist’s office, unable to speak the words. writing things on a piece of paper.

i’m trying.

i have days of nothing. i know my weak spots: if i come home from taking the older three to school, and i’m still in my jammies, and i sit and do nothing for even a small amount of time—it snowballs. it turns into a down day.

and down days lead to berating myself as a Bad Mother and a Bad Wife. and then i Overdo.
so i try to keep moving.

but then i get caught up. and i Overdo.

that day? that day i mentioned at the beginning where i was scrubbing while my baby screamed?

i STOPPED. i got myself under control. i ran a warm bath and held my sick baby in the steamy bathroom, soaking and looking into her eyes. she didn’t even want to nurse. she just wanted to be held in her mommy’s arms.

i’m struggling. i’m battling. i hope i’m winning.

learning lessons

2011-11-21T08:34:00.000-05:00

the whole time i was pregnant with five i planned on making her a blanket. i just loved the faux chenille blanket over at Made, and even did a ‘practice run’—making one for a friend’s baby.

so i gathered quite a few fabrics that i loved over the course of my pregnancy.

actually, too many fabrics that i loved. because the faux chenille blanket only really shows off the two you use on the bottom and the top. the others just become layers.

which really is a tremendous problem when you love all your fabrics.

lesson #1: don’t pick out so many fabrics you love. pick one you love love, and some that you just like like.

or you can be like me, and just complicate things for yourself—trying to give each fabric equal time—and turn a simple blanket into a frankenstein-esque type of stitched together craziness.

wanna be like me? here’s how:
i stacked up my three patterned fabrics (the brown minky i left whole to use as the backing) and pinned them together.

then i cut them into random sized strips. i didn’t measure or anything—just used the argyle pattern as my guide to keep them straight.

which gave me this:

then i began alternating them. again, no pattern here—just willy nilly. sometimes the argyle on the top of the pile, sometimes the green pinwheel fabric, sometimes the polka dot.

then i sewed them together—the whole clump to the clump next to it.

i even started to get a little ~~crazy~~ fancy and took a piece of the brown minky and added it as a strip in one spot.

and then i threw all caution to the wind and started cutting chunks from my clumps and piecing them in there, too. (i really should stop with all this technical type sewing terminology, i know)

once i had it all cobbled back together in the relative shape of a blanket, i pinned it right sides together with the minky backing and sewed it up, leaving a small hole on the side to flip it right side out.

now the ~~tedious~~ magic part of the faux chenille blanket—making all those little stitching lines. but i decided to change it up a bit, and follow the patterns i had set for myself in all those little clumps and chunks and blocks.

i started stitching. sometimes i made a square spiral (??? huh? can you do that?) in the sections…

some i just sewed straight lines…some i didn’t sew at all.

once i finished all that i took a piece of the argyle and wrote her name with fabric marker. i cut out and pinned that to the minky side of the blanket.

and stitched it on with a zig-zag (which took FOR-EH-VER).

last touches: a little tag in the hole i left to turn it right side out.

and then the cutting. and cutting. and cutting.

and then the washing. and washing. and washing.

the end result:

one fuzzy blanket, and #2 lesson learned.

namely: don’t think you’re going to lay a blanket down on the floor in the sunshine and take pictures of it without interference.

it’s simply too tempting.

the blanket, however, is soft and warm and cozy.

just right for my little ell.

we take lots of vitamins

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

and they work spectacularly.

i'm using Capitals, so you know i'm Serious.

2011-11-17T10:35:00.000-05:00

sigh.

it's been One Of Those Weeks.
you know the Ones...where you have giant long lists of Things To Be Done in your head everyday.

and at the end of everyday when you think back on which of those Things To Be Done you've actually Completed...
Zero.

half finished projects are everywhere. i have no less than five blog posts photographed and waiting for the words to be added. i even have one ready to go, but i haven't been able to pull the trigger and hit "Publish" yet.
it's kind of a heavy subject, and a lot of sharing.

maybe next week.

logic tells me i must be getting something done. i've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off all week.
that is truly, truly a horrible expression.

i've been running around like...like...an track star training for the olympics? like a 2 year old with a sugar rush? like a dog following a squirrel?

eh. whatev.

i think i may have identified the Source Of My Problems, though. i sat down this morning with my cup of coffee to write up my To Do list for today:

and then i spent ten minutes illustrating it.

because, you know, that's Necessary.

or maybe it's the little one who has decided this last week that the whole Sleeping At Night thing? yeah, not so much. why bother--when there's so much MILKY to drink--five or six or seven times a night.

oh well. at least this rambling has allowed me to say i accomplished One Thing from Today's List:

why?

2011-11-10T21:42:00.001-05:00

WHY grey and white striped fabric?

why do you elude me so?

it seems so simple. too simple.

grey. and. white. stripes.

why does the google taunt me with images of grey and white striped fabrics…only to mockingly laugh in my face when it leads me to spoonflower and $27/yard craziness????

WHY do my results say yes, YES! i have the grey and white fabric which you seek HERE now click me click me!

only to find grey and red curtains. or grey and white shoes.
or harmonicas.

i haz the curtainz sadz.

even spelling it “gray” didn’t help.

why, ikea??? you and your swedish post-modern aesthetic…why do you have BLACK and white, RED and white, BLUE and white, GREEN and white striped fabrics.

BUT NO GRAY.

no grey.

no grey fabric paint, to paint your own. even plain grey curtains—to chop up and cobble together with white curtains like you’re the gepetto scissorhands of curtain making—CAN. NOT. FIND.

i know this is a heavy post for a friday. and i apologize for that. please, for me, try hard to forget about the unfortunate lack of GREYANDWHITESTRIPEDCURTAINS in the world and enjoy your weekend.

googiemomma out. (and by “out”, i clearly mean “out to find 2 pairs of grey and white striped curtains, so help me, even if i have to cross breed a zebra and and…and an ELEPHANT, wait for it to grow, shoot it, skin it, make the curtains and hang them on my windows. by george.)